This is blog is filled with my experiences, whether they be pre-Japan, post-Japan, or during my study abroad experiences.

Month: March 2017

So I’m finally in Japan! I’m currently staying at the Toyo Hotel in Fukuoka, which is really cool because I can already see the differences in Japanese culture by just being here. The rooms in this hotel are just for one person, so I can have my privacy and embrace my inner-introvert. It’s actually pretty nice since I needed to get some rest after my day of flying from Kalamazoo, Michigan, to Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Tokyo, Japan, and finally arriving in Fukuoka, Japan. I experienced really bad jet lag when I arrived, and I also had an extremely bad head ache, so when my peers were exploring the city, I was in my room dozing the evening away. Normally, something like this would bother me since I feel like I’m missing out; however, I thought of it as taking time for me to heal, since I really didn’t want to have a headache anymore, and I really didn’t want to feel nauseous every step that I took. Also, I have all day today to explore the city of Fukuoka before we leave for Nagasaki, so I’m not worried at all.

Another cool thing that happened to me was getting lost in Translation. The minute I arrived to Tokyo, I had to get cleared for immigration, go through customs, check-in for a domestic flight, go through Japanese airport security, and figure out the airport’s bus system, since it was primarily in Japanese. The cool thing about this experience is that I definitely know more Japanese than I give myself credit for, but I still don’t know much Japanese. I don’t see this as a bad thing, though. It’s just an observation that truly shows me how hard the language is, which is marvelous to me.

But the most important thing is that I’ve made it. After the months of hard work and confusing paperwork, I’m finally here. I can’t wait to see what this experience has in store for me.

I’ve had a hard time trying to come up with things that I would like to discuss in this post. On one hand, I’m four days away from my departure date, and I’m so excited that I can’t express my words in coherent sentences. On the other hand, I’m really terrified and exhausted because I just moved across the country and my departure date IS so close. I’ve also been trying to write a new post for about two weeks now, and nothing has been motivating me to finish this post. I’ve thought about discussing how I’ve gotten to this point in my life where I’m ready to travel the world, but I couldn’t find the right words to describe this accurately. I’ve considered writing about how I plan to face my challenges abroad as a person who is dealing with depression, but I feel like that is too dark of a topic to tackle when I haven’t even left yet. But then it hit me: the point of having this blog is to think critically. Whether I think critically about some weird experience that I’ve just had, or whether I think critically about what to write, I’m practicing something that will really help me during my travels. I’m reflecting upon my life, analyzing the things that didn’t really make sense to me and observing my growth from a time in the past in comparison to who I am now. Reflection is the key to not letting my trials and tribulations ruin a wonderful experience, and instead it allows me to let these hardships help me grow even further.